about me

I'm Danielle. I am a wife and a mother to two strong daughters. We live in the small town of Dayton, Maine which is just outside the Saco/Biddeford area. I grew up here, and now I'm raising my children here. I'm also a full time college student (yup, I'm a 30 year old college student). I'm obsessed with my planner and I have to be to juggle all of our schedules. I often joke that if at the end of the day if everyone has been fed and tucked into bed, it's been a successful day and it's true. Our life is chaotic and messy but I've accepted it and have learned to dance in the rain so to speak.

I consider myself to be a natural light, lifestyle photographer; meaning that I don't do a lot of traditional posed portraits and I don't work in a studio setting. Sessions take place either in the comfort of your own home or at an outside location. I lean even more towards a documentary or photo-journalistic approach than many other lifestyle photographers. A typical session with me start off with some posed, smiling portraits of the family and the rest of the session I just focus on having fun and capturing emotion. I consider myself a storyteller and am strongly driven by authentic emotion and connection. I don't believe this can be forced which is why I run my sessions like I do. Many of my past clients have expressed how surprised they were and how it didn't feel like they would expect a photography session to feel. That's great. A photography session with me shouldn't feel like a chore, it should feel like a fun day at home, at the beach, or wherever we decide to host your session.

I was first introduced to photography by my grandfather. He loved photography. I spent many afternoons with him on his farm taking pictures together. Him with his SLR and me, with my 99 cent disposable camera. We would talk about how cool it would be to be a photographer for National Geographic. Traveling the world, pursuing our truest passions. We lost him last summer and it was the most profound loss I’ve yet to experience. I love that I have pictures of us together to look back on and now anytime I’m shooting, I feel especially connected to him.

I think one of the most important gifts you can give your children are photos from their childhood that depict real life. When I look back through my family pictures, it’s not the cheesy Sears portraits that make me pause and get teary-eyed. It’s the picture of me and my grandfather sitting together in the middle of the field behind his barn. It’s the one of my Dad pushing me on a swing in our backyard. It’s the one of me playing “dead dog” with my favorite furry friend.

This is what I think of while I’m photographing my family and my clients’. I want to give you tangible memories. My goal as your photographer is to not only capture what you look like, but who you are, where you are in life, and what this time feels like. In 15, 20 years down the road, I want you to look back on these pictures and really feel those emotions all over again.